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Opium Production in Afghanistan Hits Record High

So the Taliban halted opium production and the U.S. invasion started it up again… “in 2001, the Taliban banned poppy, citing Islamic prohibition against drugs, and wiped out 99 percent of the country’s production of the crop. The prohibition caused near economic ruin in rural areas…after the September 11 attacks, when the U.S. drove the Taliban from power. In 2002, farmers took advantage of the power vacuum following the U.S. invasion and returned to planting poppy as a cash crop.” The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan is largely responsible for smack on your streets. This is not Alex Jones, this is not Before It’s News, this is TIME Magazine…

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose to a new high of more than 200,000 hectares in 2013, a 36% increase over last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said Wednesday. The report, part of the agency’s annual survey, indicates a grave trend for the country as U.S. and NATO forces withdraw over the next year.

The 2013 figure represents the highest total cultivation ever for Afghanistan, surpassing the previous peak of 193,000 hectares in 2007. Total opium production reached roughly 5,500 tons, an increase of 49 percent since 2012. Opium prices fell slightly, but according to the report, the farm-gate value–the price of a crop when the farmer sells it–increased by almost a third. Nearly $1 billion of raw opium came out of Afghanistan last year, accounting for 4% of the country’s GDP.

For most of the last twenty years, Afghanistan has been the world’s largest opium producer…